A
work composed in Pali that proports to be the record of a dialogue between
the Buddhist monk Nagasena and the Greek King Milinda.
Milinda asks a series of questions highlighting what seem
to be anomalies and contradictions in Buddhist doctrine,
to each of which Nagasena gives clear, even ingenious
answers. The effectiveness of these answers is enhanced
by the numerous similes and analogies that are included
within them. Although there is no doubt that the two protagonists
of the Milindapanha really existed and that they held
discussions with each other, it is not a verbatim record
of the discussions as such but a work of literature. Despite
this, it may well have captured something of the personalities
of the two men. Nagasena comes across as dignified but
accessible, confident of his abilities to convince, intellectually
alert, learned and witty. Milinda on the other hand, appears
to be appears to be interested in Buddhism but by no means
prepared to accept its tenets without good reasons. The
Milindapanha is the most important book of Theravada
Buddhist doctrine outside the Pali Tipitaka and is still widely studied. A translation
of it is also included in the Chinese
Tipitaka.